Ackerson and Prenzlow announce new joint venture

Surprise Rock 'n' Roll nuptials! 

 

 Ed Ackerson (Susstones poobah, Polara mainman, producer extraordinaire and Twin Cities music scene guiding light for almost 25 years) and Ashley Prenzlow (formerly of The Meg and Basement Apartment; currently rockin' with Susstones' sensations, The Mood Swings) were married on Friday in a private ceremony in Minneapolis. Technically, I guess, they "eloped" -- if driving a few minutes to the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis can be described as "eloping." :-) Even though they've been engaged since last Christmas, many of their close friends were nonetheless a bit taken aback by their entry into a state of "rock-a-mony." The wedding announcements consisted of a mass text mail message sent out early Friday evening:

Ed and I officially tied the knot today!!!

and an e-mail with the following subject line:

We got married!

Not the kind of thing you normally expect to see in your inbox or cell phone! An "informal" reception was held later Friday night at JPs in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood of South Minneapolis, and later spilled around the corner to the Bryant Lake Bowl, the unofficial "clubhouse" for the Susstones gang. The entire Golden Smog entourage + members of Soul Asylum -- fresh from a gig across the river in St. Paul -- and many friends joined in celebrating the blessed event with the esctatic couple -- Ashley was a vision of loveliness, glowing and radiant, while Ed was smiling so much that some feared he may need reconstructive facial surgery to get things back to normal. We at 60>0 wish Ed and Ashley all the best. Love & kisses, long may you run and rock on!

Smog Alert

Golden Smog set to play festival in St. Paul



live in Waseca - 6/9/07

The Golden Smog posse has been in town all week, rehearsing and getting ready for their show tomorrow nite on the river flats in downtown St. Paul.

The line-up will be the same as the one used for their last very memorable appearance in Waseca earlier this summer:

Gary Louris
Kraig Johnson
Dan Murphy
Marc Perlman

with able assistance from
Greg Wiz on drums
Fil Krohnengold on keys and guitar
Janey Winterbauer on vocals

This will be their second appearance of 2007. God knows when we'll see them in action again.

If the weather cooperates, this should be a fun nite. Golden Smog is slated to play for about an hour or so, going on at 7:15. They're next to last on the main stage, right before Soul Asylum.

Update from Gary Louris

Another update from Gary Louris, courtesy of the Jayhawks Fanpage. Lots of interesting tidbits, including news that the long lost Jayhawks live album may still see the light of day! With Gary's solo album, the highly anticipated Olson/Louris album, the "Bunkhouse" album reissue (speaking of long lost), solo and/or duo touring, and maybe some archival Smog stuff, 2008 could be a banner year for Jayhawks/Golden Smog fans.

It was decided to wait until late January for the release of my solo
record. With the climate of the music business and the fact that I
am not a household name it was deemed best to give my record it's best
shot by not trying to compete against all the big boys in late
Fall/X-mas. And because of other mitigating circumstances it was
just the best for the record to wait, even though I always swore I
wouldn't hold a record....

I am still very excited about the Olson/Louris record and can't wait to get
that out too, but again it will have to wait until a few months after my
record. Mark and I have been talking and we are both ready,willing and able
to tour together on that release. Again, as one of my least favorite
artists once said: "The waiting is the hardest part."

I have also been told that the multi-tracks of the proposed Jayhawks
live record have finally been released by Rick Rubin to the people at
Lost Highway.. These need to be looked at again and remixed for a
possible summer release. There is also the usual talk of the first
(Bunkhouse) record being released in conjunction with the live one.
On top of that I have found that a respected filmmaker/friend of the
band's has a ton of old Jayhawks film footage dating back to '86 so I
am hoping we will be able to get some of that on one of these
releases....

There is also the plan to release a "greatest hits" and odds and ends
disc of Golden Smog by Rhino next year. So you can see there are
a lot of "plans".... now we need to get them out there and in
your hands... I know it is the usual waiting game but I am doing
everything I can to push it along....

In the meantime...get everyone and their uncle out to see Mark Olson
as his record is amazing and the band is fantastic...

Sincerely,
Gary

Neil Young's new album + tour

Chrome Dreams II - a sequel to a legendary "lost" album

Neil Young has always been full of surprises, a trait that seems to be gaining momentum as he enters his "golden years" (who could've figured that he'd release something as "out there" as Living With War...and let's not forgot about Greendale, his rock opera social commentary roadshow). There's rarely a dull moment in "Neil World," and 2007 is looking to be another innaresting year for Neil fans far and wide.

For lots of reasons -- not the least that his inner circle has been with him for decades and has fewer leaks than the Freemasons -- news about forthcoming Neil projects has always been carefully controlled. Since Neil has been relatively quiet since the last CSNY tour in 2006, rumors, understandably, have been picking up steam lately. The last hot one making the rounds a few months ago concerned a possible tour with Crazy Horse, MIA from the stage since the 2003/4 Greendale tours (and those were only "partial" shows, basically the encore after the Greendale performance).

Then, with no warning, news of a new Neil album leaked a few weeks ago. The confusing title probably meant little to the general public, but it sure sent shockwaves through the international "Rustie" community since it clearly referenced a legendary "lost" Young album from the mid 70s.

Within days more info leaked, including a tracklisting, lyrics and credits (the lyrics and credits were soon removed in short order from a Neil Young fan site, likely by request of the powers that be).

Three of the titles were immediately recognizable to astute Rusties; interestingly, they were the first three tracks (no info has surfaced on the rest of the album yet). News of familiar titles on a new Neil album isn't even really news anymore; it's a pattern he's followed for almost forever. Almost every Neil album has at least one "old" song that has been resurrected from the archives. In some cases, the gestation period can be measured in decades. This guy is a serious "woodshedder."

Still, the initial reports of the CD2 tracklisting -- familiar titles or not -- caused something of a furor in the NY fan universe. This was largely due to the long-awaited release of "Ordinary People," an epic track that has always been one of the most popular unreleased songs amongst fans, even though there are only a handful of extant live recordings of concerts from the late 1980s in circulation that feature this amazing song. Debate raged back and forth about whether it was a "new" recording, an old recording or some combination of the two (Neil has a long history of using live recordings as a basis for hybrid studio creations -- a good chunk of perhaps his greatest album, Rust Never Sleeps, was created this way). The leaked liner notes seemed to confirm that the version of "OP" on CD2 is, at least partially, from the 80s, although the debate of whether there has been recent "additions" continues unabated. Since an advance of "OP" was leaked to certain radio stations (WXPN for one) as well as Rolling Stone.com, fans have been able to examine "OP" in all of the detail that a MP3 stream will allow. The early consensus seems to be that the basic track was likely recorded at Neil's ranch in mid-88, months before the fall Bluenotes tour where it was debuted to the public. Curiously, the verse order (there are of 9 long ones!) of the CD2 version is jumbled compared to the live versions, a source of yet even more debate.

Here are some initial notes from a "Neilologist" acquaintance concerning the known titles on CD2:

Ordinary People -- easily one of the top 2 or 3 unreleased Neil songs circulating amongst fans. About a dozen luminary performances with The Bluenotes in late 88, an era that also saw the debut of the original 20 minute, 11 verse "Sixty to Zero" before it was whittled down to a more manageable length and released as "Crime in the City" on "Freedom." Also a couple of solo acoustic performances in April 1989 during a tour of Australia with The Lost Dogs.

Boxcar - originally intended for "Times Square," yet another lost Neil alb that eventually turned into "Freedom" and the "Eldorado" EP (IOW, a lost song from a lost album being released on an album named after another lost album). Performed solo electric a coupla times at the tail end of the last Bluenotes tour in 88 and a bunch of times in early 89 with Neil & The Restless.

Beautiful Bluebird -- recorded in Nashville 83/84. Purdy little country ballad. No known live performances, although a studio version showed up on a bootleg with several other outtakes from the same era.

At this time, there are no solid theories on just why Neil would name a new album after something that he didn't see fit to release the first time. John Mulvey, a UK reviewer for Uncut, who's heard CD2, sums it up quite nicely:

"I’ve heard “Chrome Dreams II” now, and I’m broadly struggling to see its connection to the first mythical set. In some ways, it’s a kind of reverse: if “Chrome Dreams” was a collection of great Neil songs that were subsequently dispersed across various disparate albums, “Chrome Dreams II” in part seems to be a collection of disparate, mainly great Neil songs that have been gathered together, somewhat belatedly."

Chrome Dreams 2 tracklisting

1. Beautiful Bluebird 3:30
2. Boxcar 3:15
3. Ordinary People 18:13
4. Shining Light 4:33
5. The Believer 2:38
6. Spirit Road 5:01
7. Dirty Old Man 2:52
8. Ever After 3:32
9. No Hidden Path 11:31
10. The Way 5:15

Fall US tour dates

October 18 Boise, ID Morrison Center
October 20 Spokane, WA Opera House
October 22 Portland, OR Keller Theater
October 23 Seattle, WA WaMu Center
October 30 Los Angeles, CA Nokia Live
November 5 Denver, CO Wells Fargo Theatre
November 8 Minneapolis, MO Northrop Auditorium
November 10 Detroit, MI Fox Theater
November 12 Chicago, IL Chicago Theater
November 13 Chicago, IL Chicago Theater
November 15 Washington, DC Constitution Hall
November 18 St. Louis, MO Fox Theater
November 26 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
November 27 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
December 2 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
December 3 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
December 5 Wallingford, CT Oakdale Theater
December 9 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theater
December 12 New York, NY United Palace
December 13 New York, NY United Palace

"Janey and Marc" -- the first studio tracks!

Minneapolis duo unleash their bittersweet sound on the world








("The Kingfield Trio" - Ed Ackerson, Janey Winterbauer, Marc Perlman -
6/22/07 @ 400 Bar, Mpls)


"Janey and Marc" -- aka Marc Perlman and Janey Winterbauer, aka one of the best kept secrets in the Minnesota music scene over the last year -- now have a myspace page up and running after months of furtive activity and under-the-radar live appearances. And, best of all, they've put up four songs; now the world at large can finally hear what the buzz is all about -- beautiful singing, lovely songs and world-class production. Early feedback from a Jayhawks fan site was overwhelmingly positive, along the lines of "wow, where can i buy this?"

Perlman has been working on a "solo project" for...well, let's just say it's been in the works for a long time. Hooking up with Winterbauer (who also sings with Astronaut Wife, Susstones' groovy merchants of electro-cool) and her prodigous vocal talents a few years ago seems to have kick-started this long simmering project to the next level. This launch is an encouraging sign that something solid is getting closer to the light of day.

The last few years have certainly been interesting times for fans of Perlman's former group, the beloved Jayhawks. Tim O'Reagan, Mark Olson and Gary Louris have all been involved in various studio and live projects -- a flurry of activity that is presently ongoing. Hopefully, the coming months will allow ample opportunities for Perlman's light to shine as well. The lucky few who have seen the "Janey & Marc" show and/or "The Kingfield Trio" know just how special this combination of talent is. Now it looks like the rest of the world will soon be able to join in on the party, too.

janey and marc myspace

David Poe gets ready to get his rock on

David Poe's much rumored, long planned "rock project" with friend Duncan Sheik and company is ready to launch. Again. The new band -- also featuring Matt Johnson, Morgan Taylor and the mighty Fil Krohnengold -- will be playing "under the tent" in NYC next week, down by the river at the South St. Seaport.

Gig info:
Wednesday, September 12
New York City
Spiegeltent @ South St. Seaport
outdoors under the tent by Pier 17 • 11 pm

Tix: ticketcentral

This should be awesome. Stay tuned for more info and previews.

Neil Young's Chrome Dreams - a true lost classic

With all the hoopla concerning Neil Young's new Chrome Dreams 2 album, it's probably a good time to look at just what Chrome Dreams 1 was/is.

Noted writer/historian Clinton Heylin once referred to Neil Young as the "king of lost albums." And he wasn't exaggerating. Throughout the years, Young as shelved one proposed album after another for a variety of reasons, usually related to his own restless creative spirit and spontaneous work habits.

A list of known Young "lost" albums includes a series of non-releases dating back almost 40 years:

• a 1970 double live album featuring solo and Crazy Horse recordings from the Cellar Door in DC and Carnegie Hall and the Fillmore East in NYC


• several early versions of Tonight's the Night


• Times Square -- a late 80s project that eventually morphed into Freedom and the Eldorado EP


• Odeon Budokan, a 1976 live Crazy Horse Album culled from shows in Japan and the UK, documenting the band at what many consider to be their peak


• Islands in the Sun and alternate versions of Trans, both from the early 80s


• various versions of Old Ways


• This Note's For You Too -- a double live album featuring the Bluenotes - the follow-up to the This Note's For You studio album. This would've been especially interesting for a couple of reasons. First, The Bluenotes were a smokin' live band that were woefully misunderstood by many fans and critics. Second, the Bluenotes studio album gives only a scant picture of this interesting chapter in Neil's career. Finally, the Bluenotes period (87-88) proved to be an exceptionally prolific times for Neil. By the time it ended, Neil and the Bluenotes had performed almost 20 new songs, including several that never were released on any studio album (a few of these were R&B-ish numbers that Neil had written back in the early 60s in Winnipeg when he was playing in local bands like The Squires). TNFY2 was going to feature many of these as well as other key performances from the period. The non-release of TNFY2 left a gaping hole in Neil's creative lineage, one that hopefully will be rectified if and when his long-delayed archival compilations are released.


• and perhaps the most famous example of them all, the legendary Homegrown album.

And then there's Chrome Dreams...version #1...the "original" version. First mentioned in a late 1976 Rolling Stone article, CD1 was slated to be the first album of original material following Zuma. A career retrospective, Decades, was also scheduled for release around the same time. As it turned out, the next Neil release was a collection of new studio material, but it was called American Stars 'n' Bars, not Chrome Dreams. Interestingly, a good chunk of Chrome Dreams did in fact show up on ASB, but it also featured songs that were eventually released on other albums: Comes a Time, Rust Never Sleeps, Hawks and Doves and even Freedom (well over a decade later!).

Here's the proposed lineup for Chrome Dreams 1, and the eventual disposition of the various tracks:

Side One
"Pocahontas" – 3:24 (solo acoustic version -- this track + overdubs released on Rust Never Sleeps)

"Will to Love" – 7:11 (same as American Stars 'n' Bars version)

"Star of Bethlehem" – 2:42 (same as Decades version)

"Like a Hurricane" – 8:14 (same as American Stars 'n' Bars version)

"Too Far Gone" – 2:41 (alternate version recorded 75 or 76 - still unreleased; different than version on Freedom)

Side Two
"Hold Back the Tears" – 5:16 (alternate version - still unreleased)

"Homegrown" – 2:20 (alternate mix of American Stars 'n' Bars version)

"Captain Kennedy" – 2:55 (same as Hawks and Doves version)

"Stringman" – 3:32 (basic track from 3-31-76 Hammersmith Odeon + later studio overdubs - still unreleased although a live version was released on Unplugged)

"Sedan Delivery" – 5:22 (alternate version - still unreleased)

"Powderfinger" – 3:23 (alternate version - still unreleased)

"Look Out for My Love" – 4:06 (same as Comes a Time version)

After years of rumors, reports of the elusive Chrome Dreams acetate surfacing were finally confirmed in the early 90s. Not surprisingly, two bootleg CDs soon followed, one sporting the complete acetate (plus, oddly enough, some uncredited, unrelated live 1977 tracks) and another featuring the unreleased CD tracks intermingled with live versions of the songs that were the same as the released versions (the big news with this second boot was the inclusion of a previously uncirculated studio outtake from the same era: "River of Pride," an early version of "White Line," a song that showed up in a few 75/76 setlists and was eventually released on Freedom 12 years later).

Needless to say, this was a shocking event in the Neil Young fan world, especially since unreleased Neil studio tracks, let alone entire albums, are as rare as hens teeth. Of the unreleased versions on CD, there were three fairly huge shockers:

• the jazzed-up "Stringman," a rarely performed song of considerable power and beauty that always held a special place amongst the faithful
• the beautiful acoustic version of "Powderfinger," almost demo-like in its sonic simplicity but still able to evoke an almost unbelievable degree of weariness and metaphysical dread. Positively devastating. Rumors persist that this is also the version that Neil sent to Lynyrd Skynyrd as a possible cover choice, belying the supposed "feud" between the parties that dated back to "Sweet Home Alabama" (FWIW, in late 77, after the terrible Skynyrd plane crash, Neil performed a fragment of "Sweet Home Alabama" at a Miami concert)
• an amazing slow version of "Sedan Delivery" that is night-and-day different from the almost punk-like RNS version released at the height of the late 70s Punk revolution. This "power swing" version is almost grunge-like in its deliberate intensity -- if you're looking for the roots of Neil's reputation as the "godfather of grunge," look no further than this mindblowing track

Judging from the tracklisting alone, it's easy to say -- especially in retrospect -- that Chrome Dreams would've been one hell of an album had it been released in its intended form, likely even a "classic." Thanks to some resourceful collectors and bootleggers, this is one "lost" album that managed to see the light of day.

Now what else does Neil have lying around in his "reject pile"?

Chrome Dreams 1 article


bogus track info sheet included with a bootleg of Chrome Dreams



acetate label

Uncomplicated fun at the Minnesota State Fair -- The Suicide Commandos rise from the dustbin of history

The Minnesota State Fair is well known for lots of things – people watching, livestock, tons o’ food on a stick and a bunch of other stuff usually associated with these kind of events. Unfortunately, live music has never been one of the MSF’s strong suits, despite being located smack dab in the middle of the Land of 10000 bands. The big headliners tend to be mostly C/W or washed up 70s dinosaurs. Sure, there's the occasional cool surprise at some side stage, but, for the most part, the part of Minnesota that encompasses rock, pop, indie, etc. is poorly represented.

So, it was more than a little shocking to see that 70s punk pioneers The Suicide Commandos were announced as an opening act for a Joan Jett/Fountains of Wayne show in the Grandstand (newly refurbished, BTW, and pretty much kick ass). It was even more shocking when Ms. Jett cancelled and the promoters decided to continue on with underbill as a free show. Since i usually go to the Fair a coupla times anyways, it was an absolute no-brainer to make sure one of those visits coincided with the nite the Commandos were doing their thing.

On a picture perfect nite, Dave, Steve and Chris performed together for the first time since who knows when. I remember they played the now defunct and missed Lyndale Block Party several years ago, but i don't remember another show in the interim (not counting a surprise encore at the 331 Club in NE Mpls the Wednesday before the Fair during a Steve Almaas solo set). Don't have a setlist, but they played damn near every thing you wanted to hear and then some (including their always excellent chosen covers). They were a tad rusty at first, but in short order their trademark sound was in full effect, filling the night air with equal parts nostalgia and pure joy.

Aside from the music and the sheer thrill of hearing these guys play again, the coolest thing was the crowd. To say that there were lots of old, familiar faces in attendance is the understatement of the year. It was like a block party, wedding, funeral and high school reunion all rolled into one. Along with numerous familiar faces were tons of people that i hadn't thought about in decades but instantly recognized and remembered. 'twas a truly mind-blowing experience, one i won't soon forget.

I can't remember the last time i had so much fun music-wise at the Fair. There were a couple of great free Los Lobos shows a few years ago, a couple of free Iffy shows a few years before that, and then you'd probably have to back to the New York Dolls playing the "Teen Pavilion" back in 1974. :-)

Viva le Commandos!


crop art on display at the fair

THIS is American music

The Drams @SxSW 2006


Centro-matic @ SxSW 2006

Now here's a good idea...take a bunch of hard-working, talented "rootsy" kinda bands who are pals with each other, package 'em together like an old Dick Clark tour, and then unleash them on audiences across the country thirsting for some "real" music, not the flavor of the day flotsam that passes for cutting edge these days.

Well, after months of back channel rumors, that's exactly what's being planned by the likes of Grand Champeen, Glossary, Two Cow Garage and The Drams. Other fellow travellers (Centro-matic?) may join in on the festivities. Details are still sketchy, but citizens of Mpls/St. Paul, Chicago, STL, Nashville and Texas should be on the lookout for further announcements.

This could be good. Very good.

THISisAmericanMusic

Tons o' new songs from Tim Easton (and "Dark Watson") on myspace

One of the most talented troubadours in the land, Tim Easton, has announced he will be unleashing at least one new song every week for the rest of the year on his myspace page. This also applies apparently to his "folk/black metal/garage" side project, "Dark Watson," a clever nod to one of Tim's heroes, Doc Watson (judging from the initial offerings, Dark Watson looks to be an outlet for Tim's songs that lean more to the pure folk/blues end of the musical spectrum). Always a prolific songwriter, Easton has generously decided to share his bounty with his fans across the fruited -- and virtual -- plains.

The initial offerings have nearly all been first rate, including outtakes from recent Easton studio projects as well as leftovers dating all the way back to the Haynes Boys era.

Keep 'em coming Tim! Kudos.

Tim Easton

Dark Watson

New West Records

The return of...shoegazing???

Just came across this two month old article about what some people in the UK are calling a revival of "shoegazing." Not that it ever really went away; it just became less commercially viable in the seemingly endless shuffle of genre permutations and recombinations that define the post-punk era and its aftermath. Apparently, though, with the growing success of bands like Blonde Redhead (i quite like their new album, produced by Alan Moulder of all people), this "revival" is now officially a "movement." Some journos are even calling it things like "nu-gaze," "stargaze" and "shoetronica" (my fave!).

Now where did i stash those Ride and Slowdive albs?